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81-698: The Alchon Huns , ( Bactrian : αλχον(ν)ο Alkhon(n)o or αλχαν(ν)ο Alkhan(n)o ) also known as the Alkhan , Alchono , Alxon , Alkhon , Alakhana , and Walxon , were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries CE. They were first mentioned as being located in Paropamisus , and later expanded south-east, into the Punjab and Central India , as far as Eran and Kausambi . The Alchon invasion of

162-526: A Hunnic state, although its precise origins remain unclear. In Bana 's Harshacharita (7th century CE), the Gurjaras are associated with the Hunas. Some of the Hunas may also have contributed to the formation of the warlike Rajputs . The religious beliefs of the Hunas is unknown, and believed to be a combination of ancestor worship, totemism and animism . Songyun and Huisheng , who visited

243-602: A 6th-century CE Buddhist work, the Manjusri-mula-kalpa , Bhanugupta lost Malwa to the " Shudra " Toramana , who continued his conquest to Magadha , forcing Narasimhagupta Baladitya to make a retreat to Bengal . Toramana "possessed of great prowess and armies" then conquered the city of Tirtha in the Gauda country (modern Bengal ). Toramana is said to have crowned a new king in Benares , named Prakataditya, who

324-463: A Hunnic tamgha to the design. These little-known coins are usually described as the result of the invasions of the " Hephthalites ". The quality of the coins also becomes very much degraded by that time, and the actual gold content becomes quite low compared to the previous Sasanian-style coinage. The Hūṇas were precisely ruling the area of Malwa , at the doorstep of the Western Deccan , at

405-517: A Hunnic defeat, and Hunnic troops apparently retreated to the area of Punjab . The Manjusri-mula-kalpa simply states that Toramana died in Benares as he was returning westward from his battles with Narasimhagupta. The Second Hunnic War started in 520, when the Alchon king Mihirakula , son of Toramana, is recorded in his military encampment on the borders of the Jhelum by Chinese monk Song Yun . At

486-466: A local Gupta ruler, probably a governor, named Bhanugupta was in charge. In the Bhanugupta Eran inscription, this local ruler reports that his army participated in a great battle in 510 CE at Eran , where it suffered severe casualties. Bhanugupta was probably vanquished by Toramana at this battle, so that the western Gupta province of Malwa fell into the hands of the Hunas. According to

567-406: Is also credited in helping repulse Mihirakula, after the latter had conquered most of India, according to the reports of Chinese monk Xuanzang . In a fanciful account, Xuanzang, who wrote a century later in 630 CE, reported that Mihirakula had conquered all India except for an island where the king of Magadha named Baladitya (who could be Gupta ruler Narasimhagupta Baladitya ) took refuge, but that

648-625: Is also known among other peoples of the steppes, particularly the Huns , and as far as Europe, where it was introduced by the Huns themselves. In another ethnic custom, the Alchons were represented beardless, often wearing a moustache , in clear contrast with the Sasanian Empire prototype which was generally bearded. The emblematic look of the Alchons seems to have become rather fashionable in

729-525: Is also presented as a son of Narasimha Gupta. Having conquered the territory of Malwa from the Guptas, Toramana was mentioned in a famous inscription in Eran , confirming his rule on the region. The Eran boar inscription of Toramana (in Eran , Malwa, 540 km south of New Delhi , state of Madhya Pradesh ) of his first regnal year indicates that eastern Malwa was included in his dominion. The inscription

810-532: Is also true that their manner of living is unlike that of their kinsmen, nor do they live a savage life as they do; but they are ruled by one king, and since they possess a lawful constitution, they observe right and justice in their dealings both with one another and with their neighbours, in no degree less than the Romans and the Persians The Kidarites , who invaded Bactria in the second half of

891-458: Is from Lou-lan and seven from Toyoq, where they were discovered by the second and third Turpan expeditions under Albert von Le Coq . One of these may be a Buddhist text. One other manuscript, in Manichaean script , was found at Qočo by Mary Boyce in 1958. Over 150 legal documents, accounts, letters and Buddhist texts have surfaced since the 1990s, the largest collection of which is

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972-537: Is inserted before word-initial consonant clusters . Original word-final vowels and word-initial vowels in open syllables were generally lost. A word-final ο is normally written, but this was probably silent, and it is appended even after retained word-final vowels: e.g. *aštā > αταο 'eight', likely pronounced /ataː/ . The Proto-Iranian syllabic rhotic *r̥ is lost in Bactrian, and is reflected as ορ adjacent to labial consonants, ιρ elsewhere; this agrees with

1053-498: Is thought that the Kanishka stupa , one of the most famous and tallest buildings in antiquity, was destroyed by them during their invasion of the area in the 460s CE. The Mankiala stupa was also vandalized during their invasions. The rest of the 5th century marks a period of territorial expansion and eponymous kings, several of which appear to have overlapped and ruled jointly. The Alchon Huns invaded parts of northwestern India from

1134-714: Is unclear. According to another source, the present-day speakers of Munji, the modern Eastern Iranian language of the Munjan Valley in the Kuran wa Munjan district of the Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan , display the closest possible linguistic affinity with the Bactrian language. Bactrian became the lingua franca of the Kushan Empire and the region of Bactria, replacing the Greek language. Bactrian

1215-407: Is vague enough to allow for such an interpretation. The "great battle" in which Bhanagupta participated is not detailed, and it is impossible to know what it was, or which way it ended, and interpretations vary. Mookerji and others consider, in view of the inscription as well as the Manjusri-mula-kalpa , that Bhanugupta was, on the contrary, vanquished by Toramana at the 510 CE Eran battle, so that

1296-727: Is written under the neck of the boar, in 8 lines of Sanskrit in the Brahmi script . The first line of the inscription, in which Toramana is introduced as Mahararajadhidaja (The Great King of Kings), reads: In year one of the reign of the King of Kings Sri- Toramana , who rules the world with splendor and radiance... On his gold coins minted in India in the style of the Gupta Emperors, Toramana presented himself confidently as: Avanipati Torama(no) vijitya vasudham divam jayati The lord of

1377-642: The First Hunnic War (496–515), the Alchon reached their maximum territorial extent, with King Toramana pushing deep into Indian territory, reaching Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in Central India , and ultimately contributing to the downfall of the Gupta Empire . To the south, the Sanjeli inscriptions indicate that Toramana penetrated at least as far as northern Gujarat , and possibly to

1458-524: The Gupta Empire . The Hunas were ultimately defeated by a coalition of Indian princes that included an Indian king Yasodharman and the Gupta emperor, Narasimhagupta . They defeated a Huna army and their ruler Mihirakula in 528 CE and drove them out of India. The Guptas are thought to have played only a minor role in this campaign. The Hunas are thought to have included the Xionite and/or Hephthalite ,

1539-560: The Hephthalites . To contemporaneous observers in India, the Alchon were one of the Hūṇa peoples (or Hunas). A seal from Kausambi associated with Toramana , bears the title Hūnarāja ("Huna King"), although the authenticity of this seal is questionable. Toramana is also described as a Huna ( [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Hūṇā ) in the Rīsthal inscription . The Hunas appear to have been

1620-457: The Huna people who invaded northern India; 3) a vague term for Hun-like people. The Alchon have also been labelled "Huns", with essentially the second meaning, as well as elements of the third. The Alchons are generally recognized by their elongated skull, a result of artificial skull deformation , which may have represented their "corporate identity". The elongated skulls appear clearly in most of

1701-678: The Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire , in a sense bringing an end to Classical India . The invasion of India by the Huna peoples follows invasions of the subcontinent in the preceding centuries by the Yavana ( Indo-Greeks ), the Saka ( Indo-Scythians ), the Pahlava ( Indo-Parthians ), and

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1782-484: The Indian subcontinent . The Alchons have long been considered as a part or a sub-division of the Hephthalites , or as their eastern branch, but now tend to be considered as a separate entity. The etymology of "Alchon" is disputed. It is only attested on the script of their coins and seals, where it appears as alkhon(n)o or alkhan(n)o in Bactrian script or lakhāna in Sanskrit. Frantz Grenet, pointing to

1863-475: The Khalili Collection of Aramaic Documents . These have greatly increased the detail in which Bactrian is currently known. The phonology of Bactrian is not known with certainty, owing to the limitations of the native scripts, and also its status as an extinct language. A major difficulty in determining Bactrian phonology is that affricates and voiced stops were not consistently distinguished from

1944-882: The Kidarites , the Alchon Huns (also known as the Alxon, Alakhana, Walxon etc.) and the Nezak Huns . Such names, along with that of the Harahunas (also known as the Halahunas or Harahuras) mentioned in Hindu texts, have sometimes been used for the Hunas in general; while these groups (and the Iranian Huns ) appear to have been a component of the Hunas, such names were not necessarily synonymous. Some authors suggest that

2025-699: The Maukharis also fought against the Hunas in the areas of the Gangetic Doab and Magadha . The Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena mentions the military successes of kings of the Later Gupta dynasty against the Maukharis, and explains that the Maukharis were past victors of the Hunas: "The son of that king ( Kumaragupta ) was the illustrious Dâmôdaragupta , by whom (his) enemies were slain, just like

2106-474: The Middle Persian apocalyptic book Zand-i Wahman yasn , argued that a name attested there, Karmīr Xyōn ("red Chionites") could represent a translation of Alkhonno , with the first element, al being a Turkic word for red and the second element representing the ethnic name "Hun". An older suggestion, by H. Humbach, also connects the second element to "Hun", but argues that al- comes from

2187-595: The Tarim Basin of China, during the early 20th century, they were linked circumstantially to Tokharistan, and Bactrian was sometimes referred to as "Eteo-Tocharian" (i.e. "true" or "original" Tocharian). By the 1970s, however, it became clear that there was little evidence for such a connection. For instance, the Tarim "Tocharian" languages were " centum " languages within the Indo-European family, whereas Bactrian

2268-892: The ks and ps sequences did not occur in Bactrian. They were, however, probably used to represent numbers (just as other Greek letters were). The Bactrian language is known from inscriptions, coins, seals, manuscripts, and other documents. Sites at which Bactrian language inscriptions have been found are (in north–south order) Afrasiyab in Uzbekistan ; Kara-Tepe , Airtam, Delbarjin , Balkh , Kunduz , Baglan , Ratabak/Surkh Kotal , Oruzgan , Kabul , Dasht-e Navur, Ghazni , Jagatu in Afghanistan ; and Islamabad , Shatial Bridge and Tochi Valley in Pakistan . Of eight known manuscript fragments in Greco-Bactrian script, one

2349-658: The 18th century) lists the Hunas alongside other peoples found in Central Asia since antiquity, including the Yavanas (Greeks), Kambojas , Tukharas , Khasas and Daradas . The Gurjara-Pratiharas suddenly emerged as a political power in north India around sixth century CE, shortly after the Hunas invasion of that region. The Gujara-Pratihara were "likely" formed from a fusion of the Alchon Huns ("White Huns") and native Indian elements, and can probably be considered as

2430-791: The 3rd century, the Kushan territories west of the Indus River fell to the Sasanians , and Bactrian began to be influenced by Middle Persian . The eastern extent of the Kushan Empire in Northwestern India, was conquered by the Gupta Empire . Besides the Pahlavi script and the Brahmi script , some coinage of this period is still in the Aryo (Bactrian) script. From the mid-4th century, Bactria and northwestern India gradually fell under

2511-519: The 4th century, are generally regarded as the first wave of Hunas to enter Indian Subcontinent. The Gupta empire under Skandagupta in the 5th century had successfully repulsed one Hun attack in the northwest in 460 CE. However, over the period of the next several years, the Hunas under successive kings were able to make inroads into the subcontinent. They were initially based in the Oxus basin in Central Asia and established their control over Gandhara in

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2592-763: The 7th century CE. They were "very likely" descendants of the Alchon Huns in the Kashmir area. Around the end of the 6th century CE, the Alchons withdrew to Kashmir and, pulling back from Punjab and Gandhara , moved west across the Khyber Pass where they resettled in Kabulistan under the leadership of Toramana II . There, their coinage suggests that they merged with the Nezak – as coins in Nezak style now bear

2673-725: The Alchon tamga mark. Bactrian language It was long thought that Avestan represented "Old Bactrian", but this notion had "rightly fallen into discredit by the end of the 19th century". Bactrian, which was written predominantly in an alphabet based on the Greek script , was known natively as αριαο [arjaː] (" Arya "; an endonym common amongst Indo-Iranian peoples). It has also been known by names such as Greco-Bactrian or Kushan or Kushano-Bactrian. Under Kushan rule, Bactria became known as Tukhara or Tokhara , and later as Tokharistan . When texts in two extinct and previously unknown Indo-European languages were discovered in

2754-767: The Alchon Tamgha [REDACTED] and the name "Alchono" (αλχοννο) in Bactrian script (a slight adaptation of the Greek script which had been introduced in the region by the Greco-Bactrians in the 3rd century BCE) on the obverse, and with attendants to a fire altar , a standard Sasanian design, on the reverse. It is thought the Alchons took over the Sasanian mints in Kabulistan after 385 CE, reusing dies of Shapur II and Shapur III , to which they added

2835-586: The Alchon presence in this area around 450-500 CE. Khingila seems to have been a contemporary of the Sassanian ruler Bahram V . As the Alchons took control, diplomatic missions were established in 457 with China . Khingila, under the name Shengil , was called "King of India" in the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi . Alchon ruler Mehama (r.461-493) was elevated to the position of Governor for Sasanian Emperor Peroz I (r. 459–484), and described himself as "King of

2916-577: The Earth, Toramana, having conquered the Earth, wins Heaven The fact that the Alchon Huns issued gold coins, such as the Toramana issue, in addition to their silver and copper coins, suggest that their empire in India was quite rich and powerful. Toramana was finally defeated by local Indian rulers. The local ruler Bhanugupta is sometimes credited with vanquishing Toramana, as his 510 CE inscription in Eran , recording his participation in "a great battle",

2997-714: The Gelani, "the most warlike and indefatigable of all tribes", in 358 CE. After concluding this alliance, the Chionites (probably of the Kidarites tribe) under their King Grumbates accompanied Shapur II in the war against the Romans, especially at the siege of Amida in 359 CE. Victories of the Xionites during their campaigns in the Eastern Caspian lands were also witnessed and described by Ammianus Marcellinus . The Alchon Huns occupied Bactria circa 370 CE, chasing

3078-458: The Gupta Empire. Chinese sources link the Central Asian tribes comprising the Hunas to both the Xiongnu of north east Asia and the Huns who later invaded and settled in Europe. Similarly, Gerald Larson suggests that the Hunas were a Turkic - Mongolian grouping from Central Asia. The works of Ptolemy (2nd century) are among the first European texts to mention the Huns, followed by the texts by Marcellinus and Priscus. They too suggest that

3159-412: The Hunas were Hephthalite Huns from Central Asia. The relationship, if any, of the Hunas to the Huns , a Central Asian people who invaded Europe during the same period, is also unclear. In its farthest geographical extent in India, the territories controlled by the Hunas covered the region up to Malwa in central India . Their repeated invasions and war losses were the main reason for the decline of

3240-547: The Huns were an inner Asian people. The 6th-century Roman historian Procopius of Caesarea (Book I. ch. 3), related the Huns of Europe with the Hephthalites or "White Huns" who subjugated the Sassanids and invaded northwestern India , stating that they were of the same stock, "in fact as well as in name", although he contrasted the Huns with the Hephthalites, in that the Hephthalites were sedentary, white-skinned, and possessed "not ugly" features: The Ephthalitae Huns, who are called White Huns [...] The Ephthalitae are of

3321-836: The Kidarites in the direction of India, and started minting coins in the style of Shapur II but bearing their name "Alchono". Around 380-385 CE, the Alchons emerged in Kapisa , taking over Kabulistan from the Sassanian Persians, while at the same time the Kidarites (Red Huns) ruled in Gandhara . The Alchons are known to have reused the mint and the coin dies of Shapur II south of the Hindu Kush, again simply adding their name "Alchono" to Sasanian coinage. The Alchon Huns are sometimes said to have taken control of Kabul in 388. The Alchon Huns initially issued anonymous coins based on Sasanian designs. Several types of these coins are known, usually minted in Bactria , using Sasanian coinage designs with busts imitating Sasanian kings Shapur II (r.309 to 379 CE) and Shapur III (r.383 to 388 CE), adding

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3402-442: The Kushan king Kanishka ( c.  127 AD ) discarded Greek ("Ionian") as the language of administration and adopted Bactrian ("Arya language"). The Greek language accordingly vanished from official use and only Bactrian was later attested. The Greek script , however, remained and was used to write Bactrian. The territorial expansion of the Kushans helped propagate Bactrian in other parts of Central Asia and North India . In

3483-399: The Kushana ( Yuezhi ). The Alchon Empire was the second of four major Huna states established in Central and South Asia. The Alchon were preceded by the Kidarites and succeeded by the Hephthalites in Bactria and the Nezak Huns in the Hindu Kush . The names of the Alchon kings are known from their extensive coinage, Buddhist accounts, and a number of commemorative inscriptions throughout

3564-550: The Proto-Iranian vowel length contrast. It is not clear if ο might represent short [o] in addition to [u] , and if any contrast existed. Short [o] may have occurred at least as a reflex of *a followed by a lost *u in the next syllable, e.g. *madu > μολο 'wine', *pasu > ποσο 'sheep'. Short [e] is also rare. By contrast, long /eː/ , /oː/ are well established as reflexes of Proto-Iranian diphthongs and certain vowel-semivowel sequences: η < *ai, *aya, *iya; ω < *au, *awa. An epenthetic vowel [ə] (written α )

3645-425: The area of Gandhara and Kashmir in northwestern India under the rule of Sri Pravarasena (c.530-590 CE), thought to be the son of Toramana. His reign probably lasted about 60 years from circa 530 CE. According to Kalhana 's 12th century text Rajatarangini , Pravarasena established a new capital named Pravarapura (also known as Pravarasena-pura). Based on topographical details, Pravarapura appears to be same as

3726-409: The area, as shown by the depiction of the Iranian hero Rostam , mythical king of Zabulistan , with an elongated skull in his 7th century CE mural at Panjikent . Another way for the Alchon Huns to affirm their identity and to differentiate themselves from their predecessors the Kidarites , was the use of a specific symbol, or tamgha , which regularly appears on their coinage and seals. During

3807-489: The clusters *sr, *str, *rst. In several cases, however, Proto-Iranian *š becomes /h/ or is lost; the distribution is unclear. E.g. *snušā > ασνωυο 'daughter-in-law', *aštā > αταο 'eight', *xšāθriya > χαρο 'ruler', *pašman- > παμανο 'wool'. The Greek script does not consistently represent vowel length. Fewer vowel contrasts yet are found in the Manichaean script, but short /a/ and long /aː/ are distinguished in it, suggesting that Bactrian generally retains

3888-501: The control of the Kidarites , while the Gupta Empire remained further east. The Alkhon Huns may simply have filled the power vacuum created by the decline of the Kidarites, following their defeat in India against the Gupta Empire of Skandagupta in 455 CE, and their subsequent defeat in 467 CE against the Sasanian Empire of Peroz I , with Hephthalite and Alchon aid under Mehama , which put an end to Kidarite rule in Transoxiana once and for all. The numismatic evidence as well as

3969-447: The control the Hephthalite and other Huna tribes . The Hephthalite period is marked by linguistic diversity; in addition to Bactrian, Middle Persian, Indo-Aryan and Latin vocabulary is also attested. The Hephthalites ruled these regions until the 7th century, when they were overrun by the Umayyad Caliphate , after which official use of Bactrian ceased. Although Bactrian briefly survived in other usage, that also eventually ceased, and

4050-464: The corresponding fricatives in the Greek script. The status of θ is unclear; it only appears in the word ιθαο 'thus, also', which may be a loanword from another Iranian language. In most positions Proto-Iranian *θ becomes /h/ (written υ ), or is lost, e.g. *puθra- > πουρο 'son'. The cluster *θw, however, appears to become /lf/ , e.g. *wikāθwan > οιγαλφο 'witness'. ϸ continues, in addition to Proto-Iranian *š, also Proto-Iranian *s in

4131-427: The demons by (the god) Dâmôdara . Breaking up the proudly stepping array of mighty elephants, belonging to the Maukhari, which had thrown aloft in battle the troops of the Hûnas (in order to trample them to death), he became unconscious (and expired in the fight)." The Maukharis led by their king Ishanavarman , rather than any of the Guptas , were therefore pivotal in repelling the Hunas. The Alchon Huns resettled in

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4212-460: The development in the western Iranian languages Parthian and Middle Persian . Huna people Hunas or Huna (Middle Brahmi script: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Hūṇā ) was the name given by the ancient Indians to a group of Central Asian tribes who, via the Khyber Pass , entered the Indian subcontinent at the end of the 5th or early 6th century. The Hunas occupied areas as far south as Eran and Kausambi , greatly weakening

4293-402: The ethnic name Alan . Hans Bakker argues that the second spelling -khan- makes it unlikely that the term contains the ethnic name "Hun", as the Bactrian word for "Hun" is * uono (plural uonono ). Likewise, Khodadad Rezakhani argues that the name Alkhana is attested for a ruler in Western Kashmir , meaning it was probably initially a personal name. Bakker instead argues that

4374-419: The ethnic name has been used as a personal name. Furthermore, the “Red Huns” theory requires that the Alchon spoke a Turkic language, which is highly disputed. Agustí Alemanny similarly disputes Humbach's etymology as relying on insufficient evidence of an Alan-Hun ethnic group. Because the name "Alchon" is only attested on coins and seals, there is some debate about whether the Alchon were a separate entity from

4455-486: The head of Mihirakula". In a part of the Sondani inscription Yasodharman thus praises himself for having defeated king Mihirakula : He (Yasodharman) to whose two feet respect was paid, with complimentary presents of the flowers from the lock of hair on the top of (his) head, by even that (famous) king Mihirakula , whose forehead was pained through being bent low down by the strength of (his) arm in (the act of compelling) obeisance The Gupta Empire emperor Narasimhagupta

4536-415: The head of the Alchon, Mihirakula is then recorded in Gwalior , Central India as "Lord of the Earth" in the Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula . According to some accounts, Mihirakula invaded India as far as the Gupta capital Pataliputra , which was sacked and left in ruins. There was a king called Mo-hi-lo-kiu-lo (Mihirakula), who established his authority in this town ( Sagala ) and ruled over India. He

4617-449: The latest known examples of the Bactrian script, found in the Tochi Valley in Pakistan, date to the end of the 9th century. Among Indo-Iranian languages, the use of the Greek script is unique to Bactrian. Although ambiguities remain, some of the disadvantages were overcome by using heta ( Ͱ, ͱ ) for /h/ and by introducing sho ( Ϸ, ϸ ) to represent /ʃ/ . Xi ( Ξ, ξ ) and psi ( Ψ, ψ ) were not used for writing Bactrian as

4698-432: The modern city of Srinagar . He also built a temple named "Pravaresha". Pravarasena was probably succeeded by a king named Gokarna , a follower of Shiva , and then by his son king Narendraditya Khinkhila . The son of Narendraditya was Yudhishthira , who succeeded him as king, and was the last known king of the Alchon Huns. According to the Rajatarangini Yudhishthira ruled 40 years, probably until circa 625 CE, but he

4779-413: The name "Alchono". Around 430 King Khingila , the most notable Alchon ruler, and the first one to be named and represented on his coins with the legend "χιγγιλο" ( Chiggilo ) in Bactrian , emerged and took control of the routes across the Hindu Kush from the Kidarites. Coins of the Alchons rulers Khingila and Mehama were found at the Buddhist monastery of Mes Aynak , southeast of Kabul , confirming

4860-406: The nomadic hordes from Central Asia called the " Chionites " were described by Ammianus Marcellinus : he reports that in 356 CE, Shapur II was taking his winter quarters on his eastern borders, "repelling the hostilities of the bordering tribes" of the Chionites and the Euseni ("Euseni" is usually amended to "Cuseni", meaning the Kushans ), finally making a treaty of alliance with the Chionites and

4941-416: The northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent by about 465 CE. From there, they fanned out into various parts of northern, western, and central India . The Hūṇas are mentioned in several ancient texts such as the Rāmāyaṇa , Mahābhārata , Purāṇas , and Kalidasa’s Raghuvaṃśa . In 528 CE, another campaign led by a coalition of Indian kings finally defeated king Mihirakula and his Huna army. The victory

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5022-415: The official seal of the monastery, and the other bearing the title Hūnarāja ("King of the Huns"), together with debris and arrowheads. Another seal, this time by Mihirakula, is reported from Kausambi. These territories may have been taken from Gupta Emperor Budhagupta . Alternatively, they may have been captured during the rule of his successor Narasimhagupta . A decisive battle occurred in Malwa , where

5103-429: The people of Kadag and governor of the famous and prosperous King of Kings Peroz" in a 462-463 letter . He allied with Peroz I in his victory over the Kidarites in 466 CE, and may also have helped him take the throne against his brother Hormizd III . But he was later able to wrestle autonomy or even independence. Between 460 and 470 CE, the Alchons took over Gandhara and the Punjab which also had remained under

5184-408: The peoples known in contemporaneous Iranian sources as Xwn , Xiyon and similar names, which were later Romanised as Xionites or Chionites. The Hunas are often linked to the Huns that invaded Europe from Central Asia during the same period. Consequently, the word Hun has three slightly different meanings, depending on the context in which it is used: 1) the Huns of Europe; 2) groups associated with

5265-418: The port of Bharukaccha . To the east, far into Central India , the city of Kausambi , where seals with Toramana's name were found, was probably sacked by the Alkhons in 497–500, before they moved to occupy Malwa . In particular, it is thought that the monastery of Ghoshitarama in Kausambi was destroyed by Toramana, as several of his seals were found there, one of them bearing the name Toramana impressed over

5346-404: The portraits of rulers in the coinage of the Alkhon Huns, and most visibly on the coinage of Khingila . These elongated skulls, which they obviously displayed with pride, distinguished them from other peoples, such as their predecessors the Kidarites . On their coins, the spectacular skulls came to replace the Sasanian -type crowns which had been current in the coinage of the region. This practice

5427-426: The reign of Shapur II , the Sasanian Empire and the Kushano-Sasanians gradually lost the control of Bactria to these invaders from Central Asia , first the Kidarites from around 335 CE, then the Alchon Huns from around 370 CE, who would follow up with the invasion of India a century later, and lastly the Hephthalites from around 450 CE. Early confrontations between the Sasanian Empire of Shapur II with

5508-404: The second half of the 5th century. According to the Bhitari pillar inscription , the Gupta ruler Skandagupta already confronted and defeated an unnamed Huna ruler c.  456-457 CE . From circa 480 CE, there are also suggestion of Hunnic occupation of Sindh , between Multan and the mouth of the Indus River , as the local Sasanian coinage of Sindh starts to incorporate sun symbols or

5589-411: The so-called "Hephthalite bowl" from Gandhara , now in the British Museum , suggests a period of peaceful coexistence between the Kidarites and the Alchons, as it features two Kidarite noble hunters wearing their characteristic crowns, together with two Alchon hunters and one of the Alchons inside a medallion. At one point, the Kidarites withdrew from Gandhara, and the Alchons took over their mints from

5670-460: The stock of the Huns in fact as well as in name, however they do not mingle with any of the Huns known to us, for they occupy a land neither adjoining nor even very near to them; but their territory lies immediately to the north of Persia [...] They are not nomads like the other Hunnic peoples, but for a long period have been established in a goodly land... They are the only ones among the Huns who have white bodies and countenances which are not ugly. It

5751-421: The time of Khingila . The Alchons apparently undertook the mass destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas at Taxila , a high center of learning, which never recovered from the destruction. Virtually all of the Alchon coins found in the area of Taxila were found in the ruins of burned down monasteries, where apparently some of the invaders died alongside local defenders during the wave of destructions. It

5832-608: The time the famous Ajanta Caves were made by ruler Harisena of the Vakataka Empire. Through their control of vast areas of northwestern India, the Huns may actually have acted as a cultural bridge between the area of Gandhara and the Western Deccan, at the time when the Ajanta or Pitalkhora caves were being decorated with designs of Gandharan inspiration, such as Buddhas dressed in robes with abundant folds. In

5913-535: The western Gupta province of Malwa fell into the hands of the Hunas at that point, so that Toramana could be mentioned in the Eran boar inscription, as the ruler of the region. Toramana was finally vanquished with certainty by an Indian ruler of the Aulikara dynasty of Malwa , after nearly 20 years in India. According to the Rīsthal stone-slab inscription , discovered in 1983, King Prakashadharma defeated Toramana in 515 CE. The First Hunnic War thus ended with

5994-559: Was an Iranian, thus " satem " language. Bactrian is a part of the Eastern Iranian languages and shares features with the extinct Middle Iranian languages Sogdian and Khwarezmian (Eastern) and Parthian ( Western ), as well as sharing affinity with the modern Eastern Iranian languages such as Pamir subgroup of languages like Munji and Yidgha which are part of the same branch of the Pamir languages. Its genealogical position

6075-608: Was defeated in 528 by an alliance of Indian principalities led by Yasodharman , the Aulikara king of Malwa , in the Battle of Sondani in Central India , which resulted in the loss of Alchon possessions in the Punjab and north India by 542. The Sondani inscription in Sondani , near Mandsaur , records the submission by force of the Hunas, and claims that Yasodharman had rescued the earth from rude and cruel kings, and that he "had bent

6156-575: Was dethroned by Pratapaditya, son of the founder of the Karkoṭa Empire , Durlabhavardhana . Several rulers with Alchon names appear in Kalhana 's Rajatarangini . Although the chronology of the Rajatarangini is largely deficient, several of the names of these rulers, especially those belonging to the so-called Gonanda dynasty (II) , have been confirmed by coin finds in Kashmir and dated to

6237-640: Was finally captured by the Indian king. He later spared Mihirakula's life on the intercession of his mother, as she perceived the Hun ruler "as a man of remarkable beauty and vast wisdom". Mihirakula is then said to have returned to Kashmir to retake the throne. This ended the Second Hunnic War in c. 534, after an occupation which lasted nearly 15 years. According to the Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena ,

6318-609: Was inscribed on a stone pillar and erected in honor of (and in praise for) one of the leaders of the coalition, king Yashodharman, in Mandasaur in Central India. Huna kings in this inscription are described as 'rude and cruel'. They were also responsible for the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and centers of learning in the Northwest regions of the country. The Mongolian-Tibetan historian Sumpa Yeshe Peljor (writing in

6399-503: Was of quick talent, and naturally brave. He subdued all the neighbouring provinces without exception. The destructions of Mihirakula are also recorded in the Rajatarangini : Mihirakula, a man of violent acts and resembling Kāla (Death) ruled in the land which was overrun by hordes of Mlecchas ... the people knew his approach by noticing the vultures, crows, and other [birds], which were flying ahead to feed on those who were being slain within his army's [reach] Finally however, Mihirakula

6480-644: Was overrun by a confederation of tribes belonging to the Great Yuezhi and Tokhari . In the 1st century AD, the Kushana, one of the Yuezhi tribes, founded the ruling dynasty of the Kushan Empire . The Kushan Empire initially retained the Greek language for administrative purposes but soon began to use Bactrian. The Bactrian Rabatak inscription (discovered in 1993 and deciphered in 2000) records that

6561-804: Was used by successive rulers in Bactria, until the arrival of the Umayyad Caliphate . Following the conquest of Bactria by Alexander the Great in 323 BC, for about two centuries Greek was the administrative language of his Hellenistic successors, that is, the Seleucid and the Greco-Bactrian kingdoms . Eastern Scythian tribes (the Saka , or Sacaraucae of Greek sources) invaded the territory around 140 BC, and at some time after 124 BC, Bactria

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